Books Books You'll Never Finish Reading

List Rules Upvote the books that might be great, but no one will ever finish them and find out because who has the time and/or patience?

As Emily Dickinson famously said, "There is no Frigate like a Book / To take us Lands away," but sometimes you get halfway there and are all "Frigate, WTF, where are we even going?" There are some books that you will just never finish, no matter how many times you try. Maybe the authors of these hardest books to read are laughing at all of us right now, or maybe they didn't even mean to make the book so tough, but here we all are, slogging through these book swamps, trying to figure out what the hell James Joyce is even on about with Ulysses.

Hard books to read run the gamut. Some are just too long, like War and Peace. Others are just perplexing and no one will ever know what's really going on in them, even that kid in your Honors College literature class who thinks he is so cool. Still others of the most difficult books ever written aren't even really that complicated, they just happen to be as boring as listening to anyone, anywhere, at anytime, talking about traffic.

What books have you put down after just one chapter? What books sit proudly on your shelves, 90% unread because life is more than sticking it out with a book that is just too much? Sure, a lot of these books you are never going to actually read are classics, written by famous authors and some of the most influential writers of all time, but let's get real, Jonathan Franzen, there aren't enough hours in the day to wade through The Corrections.

Upvote the books and novels below that you have sidelined for whatever reason and be sure to add any great books you have started, and then immediately been like, "NOPE."

1

18,876 12,405

Daniel Arana added The Bible The Bible is a canonical collection of texts sacred in Judaism and Christianity. There is no single canonical Bible and various religious traditions have produced different recensions with ...more

2

15,768 11,390

Moby-DickHerman Melville Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is a novel by Herman Melville considered an outstanding work of Romanticism and the American Renaissance. Ishmael narrates the monomaniacal quest of Ahab, captain of the ...more

3

13,129 9,895

War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature. It is ...more

4

11,927 9,480

UlyssesJames Joyce Ulysses is a modernist novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its ...more

5

1,636 1,230

Chester Angelico Mercado added The Good EarthPearl S. Buck The Good Earth is a novel by Pearl S. Buck published in 1931 and awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1932. The best-selling novel in the United States in both 1931 and 1932, it was an ...more

6

12,699 10,605

The Canterbury TalesGeoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales is a collection of over 20 stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century, during the time of the Hundred Years' War. The tales are ...more

7

13,567 11,732

Scott Shafer added Gone with the WindMargaret Mitchell Gone with the Wind is a novel written by Margaret Mitchell, first published in 1936. The story is set in Clayton County, Georgia, and Atlanta during the American Civil War and Reconstruction ...more

8

14,010 12,357

AnnaKorba added A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralised by the ...more

9

11,199 10,192

PaulArdoin added Anna KareninaLeo Tolstoy Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. Tolstoy clashed with editor Mikhail Katkov ...more

10

11,177 10,178

secretigoo added Wuthering HeightsEmily Brontë Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's only novel. Written between October 1845 and June 1846, Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 under the pseudonym ″Ellis Bell″; Brontë died the ...more

11

8,337 7,649

Pam Smith added Jane EyreCharlotte Brontë Jane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published on 16 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London, England, under the pen name "Currer Bell." The ...more

12

13,773 12,759

The Grapes of WrathJohn Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited ...more

13

10,185 9,514

John R. Bair added The Red Badge of CourageStephen Crane The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane. Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who ...more

14

11,792 11,103

Atlas ShruggedAyn Rand Atlas Shrugged is a 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. Rand's fourth and last novel, it was also her longest, and the one she considered to be her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing. Atlas ...more

15

8,385 7,884

RodneyBlair added Les MisérablesVictor Hugo Les Misérables is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the ...more

16

14,076 13,365

coyotedoorknob added The Scarlet LetterNathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and is considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, ...more

17

1,147 1,001

18

6,099 5,747

19

3,067 2,904

Siersha 2 added The Bridges of Madison CountyRobert James Waller The Bridges of Madison County is a 1992 best-selling novel by Robert James Waller that tells the story of a married but lonely Italian woman living in 1960s Madison County, Iowa. She engages in ...more

20

4,667 4,545

ChloeFletcher added Lord of the Flies William GoldingWilliam Golding Lord of the Flies is a 1954 dystopian novel by Nobel Prize-winning English author William Golding about a group of British boys stuck on an uninhabited island who try to govern themselves with ...more

21

6,819 6,687

Kimber Highfill added The Last of the MohicansJames Fenimore Cooper The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper. It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy and the best known to contemporary ...more

22

4,841 4,744

ChloeFletcher added Animal FarmGeorge Orwell Animal Farm is an allegorical and dystopian novella by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to the Russian ...more

23

8,574 8,480

Crime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It was ...more

24

5,910 5,828

Le Roy added Don QuixoteMiguel de Cervantes Don Quixote, fully titled The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It follows the adventures of a nameless hidalgo who reads so many ...more

25

7,111 7,050

Lynn Sabin added WaldenHenry David Thoreau Walden, by noted transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, is a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, ...more

26

7,576 7,572

Avada added David CopperfieldCharles Dickens David Copperfield, . is the eighth novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published as a serial 1849–50, and as a book in 1850. Many elements of the novel follow events in Dickens' own life, and ...more

27

5,406 5,434

David Carter0 added The Sun Also RisesErnest Hemingway Hemingway´s book abot the San Fermin Festival

28

8,168 8,268

Debby Crespo Frisk added Uncle Tom's CabinHarriet Beecher Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly, is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil ...more

29

10,549 10,741

Catch-22Joseph Heller Catch-22 is a satirical novel by the American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. It is frequently cited as one of the greatest literary ...more

30

5,248 5,317

Kayode Rotato Poti Anthony added RootsAlex Haley Roots: The Saga of an American Family is a novel written by Alex Haley and first published in 1976. It tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent and sold ...more

31

10,174 10,534

The SilmarillionJ. R. R. Tolkien The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son, Christopher Tolkien, in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who ...more

32

2,879 2,962

Siersha 2 added The Count of Monte CristoAlexandre Dumas, Auguste Maquet The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel by French author Alexandre Dumas completed in 1844. It is one of the author's most popular works, along with The Three Musketeers. Like many of ...more

33

5,085 5,324

Notwillywonka Aintsugarcoaten Shitt added Water for ElephantsSara Gruen Water for Elephants is a historical novel by Sara Gruen, written as part of National Novel Writing Month.

34

4,486 4,695

Miranda Rose Glaser added The Oxford English DictionaryJohn Simpson The Oxford English Dictionary, published by the Oxford University Press, is a descriptive dictionary of the English language. As well as describing English usage in its many variations ...more

35

5,491 5,768

Tracie C Scott added ExodusLeon Uris Exodus by American novelist Leon Uris is about the founding of the State of Israel. Published in 1958, it is based on the name of the 1947 immigration ship Exodus. Uris covered the Arab–Israeli ...more

36

10,635 11,442

37

5,095 5,441

Monty Sahay added Tess of the d'UrbervillesThomas Hardy Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated ...more

38

5,048 5,400

Notwillywonka Aintsugarcoaten Shitt added Watership DownRichard Adams Watership Down is a classic adventure novel, written by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in south-central England, the story features a small ...more

39

4,729 5,150

Greg Jones added Paradise LostJohn Milton Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. The first version, published in 1667, consisted of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A ...more

40

2,813 3,039

squanchy added The Picture of Dorian GrayOscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray is an 1891 philosophical novel by writer and playwright Oscar Wilde. First published as a complete story in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, the ...more

41

2,447 2,662

Siersha 2 added The Three MusketeersAlexandre Dumas The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the ...more

42

10,706 12,012

Catherine Lynn Martell added Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen Pride and Prejudice is a novel of manners by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character, Elizabeth Bennet, as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, ...more

43

1,158 1,236

44

9,980 11,487

The Girl with the Dragon TattooStieg Larsson The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a crime novel by the late Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. It is the first book of the Millennium trilogy, which, when published posthumously in ...more

45

14,066 16,238

The Lord of the RingsJ. R. R. Tolkien The Lord of the Rings is an epic high-fantasy novel written by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit, but eventually developed ...more

46

8,847 10,223

Manuel Bottine added DraculaBram Stoker Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from ...more

47

2,165 2,448

ChloeFletcher added The FountainheadAyn Rand The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Ayn Rand, and her first major literary success. More than 6.5 million copies of the book have been sold worldwide. The Fountainhead '​s protagonist, Howard ...more

48

6,898 8,026

Lorraine Zimmerman added The Adventures of Sherlock HolmesArthur Conan Doyle The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his famous detective, and illustrated by Sidney Paget.

49

3,896 4,618

Samantha Sharpes added The JungleUpton Sinclair, Jr. The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the ...more

50

5,833 6,961

RussBiaggi added DuneFrank Herbert Dune is a 1965 epic science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. It won the Hugo Award in 1966, and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. Dune is the world's best-selling science fiction novel ...more